This disclosure is directed to vacuuming devices and, more particularly, to vacuuming devices that collect and filter contaminated fluid and the filtered fluid is subsequently discharged.
Vacuuming devices have been developed in a variety of designs, each to accomplish a specific task or set of tasks. One common configuration of a vacuuming device is a portable vacuum in which a canister, which may be a drum or other enclosed vessel, is used to collect material that is to be vacuumed. A flexible hose that terminates in a rigid wand or other tool is connected to the canister and the wand is placed in or near the material to be collected. Such devices typically include a vacuum pump that lowers the pressure within the sealed canister to below ambient, and the pressure differential causes material to be sucked through the collection hose and collected within the interior of the canister. Such portable devices may be used to vacuum and collect dry particulate material, fluids or a combination of fluids and particulate material.
Certain types of vacuuming devices may be adjusted to a vacuuming configuration, in which particulate material, a fluid or a combination thereof, is drawn through the collection hose and is retained within the canister, or to a discharge configuration, in which operation of the vacuum pump is reversed to pressurize the interior of the canister above ambient pressure. The pressurized interior forces the collected material, typically a fluid, out through the collection hose, or in some embodiments out through a second hose, thereby emptying the contents of the canister.
A common application for such vacuuming devices with reversible vacuum pumps is the collection and filtering of fluid that contains or is contaminated with particulate material. With such devices, the collection hose is first connected to a port that communicates with a collection filter within the canister. In the vacuuming or collecting mode, fluid with particulate material suspended in it is drawn through the collection hose and through the filter in the canister, which collects the particulate material suspended in the fluid. The filtered fluid is also retained within the canister. In a discharge mode, the collection hose is disconnected from a collection port, that port is closed off and the hose is connected to a second port that communicates with the interior of the canister and bypasses the filter. The vacuum pump is then adjusted to pressurize the interior of the canister. The filtered, collected fluid in the canister is then discharged through the hose.
There is a need for a liquid vacuuming and filtering device that is simple to operate and eliminates the need to adjust hoses when switching from a collection mode to a discharge mode.